by Mignon Mykel
A heartbeat later, he comes with a quiet roar as his teeth gnash into my shoulder. We still, holding one another, shaking, and panting. I want this moment to last forever.
“I love you too, Brenner,” I whisper.
Epilogue
Brenner
Five months later
I’m wrapping up the end of the workday when I hear Lark mumbling curses under her breath through the window. Baseball is back, finally, and I happily accepted the job with the Stingers.
“Babe, now that this is behind us.”
“What’s behind us?” I call out from the kitchen as I pull a beer from the fridge.
“This little idea of yours to plant a garden at home. I mean, things are back to normal, so . . .”
I walk outside onto the deck and survey the scene. Two planter boxes are overgrown with tomatoes and other vegetables I can’t quite identify. Did we plant basil? Dill? I have no idea.
“Like, what even is this?” she laughs at the pathetic display of weeds.
The problem isn’t the idea. It’s schematics. Not enough land. Zero land. I need land.
“This is an eyesore, Brenner,” she says, then bends to pull a few weeds. “I mean, honestly, I only agreed to the garden because it was something for you to do to pass the time.”
“Well, it was a good idea at the time.”
She levels me with a stare. “At the time, yes. But now . . . ?”
“It’s an eyesore.”
“Yes, so do something about it, please.” She cocks her head, sending shiny brown waves falling over her shoulder.
I drop to my knee. “Okay, let’s move. You and me . . . Malibu. We’ll get a bigger place with space for a huge garden. We’ll have flowers, herbs, and vegetables in raised beds . . . constructed from reclaimed scaffolding.”
Her eyes go wide. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Is the house—our house—on the market?”
“Yeah, let’s do it. What do you say?”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. We spend almost every night together. There’s no reason to have two homes. I’m ready for this.”
I’ve never been more ready for something. Lark comes first.
She bends down to meet my eyes. “Yes, let’s buy our dream home.” Her hands press to my cheeks, then she smashes her lips to mine.
“Hell yeah,” I shout and pump my fist into the air.
Lark laughs and spins away from me. I grasp her wrist.
“I’m still on my knee.”
Her nose wrinkles. “So, get up, or do you need help, old man?”
“On my knee, hello . . .” My eyes pop wide, and my heart races. I pull the cushion cut diamond from my pocket. Oval in shape. Vintage in design. “Babe, marry me. I love you. There’s no one I’d rather eat pancakes with, garden with, or build a life with. You’re the one.”
“Attempt to garden with,” she cries out.
“I love you,” I tell her and rise to my feet.
“I love you, too.” Her lips land on mine.
When she breaks the kiss, we’re both breathless. I slip the rose gold ring on her finger. “You have no idea how happy you’ve made me. How happy I will make you, Lark.”
“You already have.”
About Christy Pastore
Thank you for reading! I hope you loved Lark and Brenner’s second chance romance!
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Are you ready for more reading fun? Get to know the Cardwell family (Remember Brenner’s friend, Brant? He’s in The Cardwell Family series.) If you love small-town romances with a kick of country and a double shot of bourbon, this is your next binge read!
The Cardwell Family Series
Beautiful March – Haven and Tyler
Sweet Agony – Brant and Caroline
Copper Lining – Wes and Minka (Coming Fall 2020)
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Fierce Fighter
Victoria Pinder
This book is honestly dedicated to my uncle Al. He played professional football and then wrestled some. He was called The Moose. My mom was always so proud of her older brother. You told me we were also related to a famous wrestler though the one that mattered to us was you. My mom got pieces of her family back because you found her when she turned eighteen.
1
Vanessa Maye
Avoid Stone for a few more hours, I told myself. You’ve avoided him this long in Napa. It’s easy enough to pretend you’re busy with this wedding. You’re a bridesmaid—they help the bride.
Pep talk done, I stepped back. No more staring at myself in the mirror of the women’s restroom in the hotel lobby. I wasn’t his anymore. We’d moved on. I squared my shoulders in my sleeveless full-length green bridesmaid dress. After leaving Pittsburgh six years ago, he’d never looked back.
Another guest, a woman I didn’t know, came into the bathroom, and I stilled as she headed past me. Then I breathed again as she passed and didn’t even blink at me or pay me any attention.
Stone was out there, and he had no idea I’d had his son, who was currently at home with my mom while I flew to Napa for this all-expenses-paid wedding.
The avoid-Stone-at-all-costs mission had been easy so far since the Steel family had used the wedding as a family reunion. So I’d disappeared after wedding duties to see the sights of Napa Valley, taste wine, and call home. I missed my boy.
The wedding ceremony had kept me busy, but all that remained was the reception. Hopefully, Stone would stay with his little sister and extended family on one end of the ballroom while I stayed on the other.
A toilet flushed in one of the stalls. Time to leave the sink and the white walls with bright mirrors and head inside. The hall was busy with people, but I stopped at the door of the ballroom with a view of one of the vineyards of Napa. The bride, Indigo Steel, was seriously living the dream with this wedding. Everything about this was picturesque. Pittsburgh never smelled this sweet, even in the spring.
I scanned the ballroom to find him. I was at the head table, with the wedding party, and Stone wasn’t anywhere in the room. Good.
I stepped forward to go to my seat, but a strong hand cupped my wrist. My heartbeat strummed, and I glanced up to see the one man I never wanted to see again and the only man who’d ever made me weak in the knees.
His lips curved higher on his square face. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“True.” My heart raced a little more. He didn’t let me go, and I didn’t struggle. I didn’t know who I’d been kidding in the bathroom. If he wanted me, I was his.
“I thought we were cool,” he said. “You helped me track down Emily’s number.”
Cool wasn’t a word I would have used to describe us, but yes, I’d helped him get his sister’s phone number. It was a simple kindness. I tugged my hand away and crossed my arms under my chest, heaving it a little in his direction to see if he even noticed. “One phone call doesn’t make us friends, but I remembered how your stepmother took everything from you, including your cell phone. You were lucky the car was in your name after the funeral.”
“Lana is the devil.” He glanced down, and my nipples betrayed me under the sheer dress.
I dropped my hands so he wouldn’t see how hard he’d already made my nipples.
“And we were more than friends… once.”
I closed my eyes. His nearness still made me ache for more, but he was right. We were the past, and I had our son as a living memory. Ignoring the heat in my veins, I said, “Life moves on, and clearly, you have been favored.”
He brushed my shoulder, just for a moment as he came closer, but my lips tingled for his kiss when he said, “I trained hard�
��all day, every day.”
“That’s clearly true.” I pressed my hand on his chest, and a shock rushed in me. This was a mistake.
He was all dense muscle, and my fingers ached to discover if he was still hard and passionate underneath that suit of his. I let out a sigh as I let him go. “My mother was convinced you were bad news and would never amount to anything.”
I played with my gold necklace as he rocked on his feet. “My stepmother probably still thinks that of me. She made Emily’s life hard in the past five years, but with you, I wasn’t always a bad boy.”
And still fucking charming with his hands in his pockets. No wonder he has that professional wrestling contract that requires personality for TV and sporting skill that now earns him millions. I ignored how my stomach twisted. “You proved everyone wrong.”
He motioned with his head, but his hard muscles and posture spoke without words. It was his inner strength of determination that had earned him everything. “Not yet. The Olympics are at least scheduled now.”
Right. This is about him, not my secret. I licked my lips like I wanted to tell him he was a father and to send us some cash, but I couldn’t. I’d never told him because I wanted him to succeed in his dreams. Ignoring the desire strumming in my veins, I asked, “Is that why you’re competing? I thought the goal was always the WWE.”
“It was. Money proves I’m not worthless, right?” He said it like he needed to prove that. He didn’t—at least not with me. I’d always believed in him, even when he was poor and homeless and on his way out of town, and that was how we’d created Rocky. “So I want my contract with the WWE extended,” he added, “with a pay raise, and a gold medal proves I’m worth more.”
I let out a laugh like it was an oxygen mask that released the tension in me. “What happened to the best wrestler in school wanting to be serious and study chemistry?”
People brushed past us, and he placed his hand on my back to guide me. “I was a boy who was in love with you… Did you end up going to Austen?”
Love? My gut twisted. I’d betrayed that and had no right to wish for any different. I stared ahead as he led me to the dance floor. I decided not to address feelings. It was better to avoid that. “No, life had other plans for me. Why?”
He wrapped his arms around me as the music started a slow song. My pulse zipped as we danced together, but he only answered, “My sister is going in the fall. I wanted to know what it was like.”
I swallowed and half wished we’d run off together years ago. Staying in our small part of Pittsburgh where we’d both grown up meant lonely nights where my mother reminded me that I’d followed in her footsteps and had a child alone, without any money in my pocket. I shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to ask someone else.”
The band sang a song about kissing as we swayed, and he said, “I’ve not danced since prom.”
For one second, I was tempted to kiss him. Damn. He smelled like the same cologne he’d worn that night, but this time, he was all muscles. I closed my eyes and followed him. Half wishing we could go back in time, I said, “That was a fun night.”
He squeezed me in a hug. “Every second of us was a fun night.”
“Yeah, it was.” I held him.
My heart thumped. I was with the only man I’d ever wanted. It was a tease of a different life, but I couldn’t get comfortable with him. If he ever found out about his son, he would hate me. Right now, he didn’t know how letting him go like I had sent shivers of regret through my body every night.
He whispered into my ear, “Maybe after, we can—”
“No.” Remembering the past was dangerous. In a few hours, we would leave and never see each other again. It was better not to tempt the man who made me forget I was a serious mom who never had fun anymore.
“Why?” he asked.
Good fucking question. It was better to not relive the heaven of being with him. “Because our lives are different now, and you’re training to be a champion, while I’m responsible and boring now.”
“You were never boring,” he said quickly.
The song was coming to a close. I needed to be clearer with him. I leaned back and realized my breasts, which ached for his touch, were now clearly visible to him. I moved, but the gleam in his gaze told me he’d looked. “We lead different lives now, Stone. Let’s leave the past in the past.”
“I want you,” he whispered into my ear.
The warm breath on my skin sent a sweet ache through me. I couldn’t destroy his future. I swallowed, ignoring the sense that if I didn’t have him to dream about at night, I couldn’t make it through my days anymore. I let out a sigh. “Part of me wants you too.”
His strong fingers curled around my head. My pulse quickened; I was sure he would kiss me in a moment. I needed this to end, so I shook my head, and a lie came out of my mouth. “I’m engaged, Stone. I can’t do this anymore.”
He let me go like I’d shocked him. I’d shocked myself, too, and I was trembling. Lying was never my thing, but I had to protect my heart. Stone had a bright future now, and I had to be there first and foremost for our son.
The song ended, and I pivoted and left. It was better to end it on a sweet lie, where I could dream things were different for us, and he would move on from me. Having him hate me would completely destroy me.
2
Stone Steel
When the dance ended, I watched Vanessa swing those hips of hers that were thicker and sexier than I remembered as she walked away from me. Once she slid into her seat and I couldn’t ogle her, I left the dance floor and stormed to the bar. I ordered a White Russian as a testament to my next opponent, when I bumped into my cousin, Olivia, who ordered herself a white wine.
She glanced up at and asked, “Were you dancing with Vanessa?”
I turned around and stared straight across the room. “Yeah, but she’s engaged.”
The bartender brought Olivia’s wine and my White Russian. Olivia held up her hand and said, “She is? She’s not been wearing a ring.”
Good observation. Trouble in paradise would be great for me. I took my drink. “And whoever he fucking is, he didn’t come with her, and besides, I’m here to be with family and be here for my sister, Emily.”
I hoped Emily was happy moving in with me now and away from our stepmother, and in the same second, I hoped Vanessa hadn’t fallen for a lying jerk who didn’t see her as a goddess.
She clinked glasses with me and headed off.
Hopefully, Olivia would find her happily ever after soon, but for me, Vanessa had just stolen my reason for living and fighting. She had no idea how I’d wanted her every second of every day.
When I turned eighteen and was about to go to college, my father had died. My stepmother had kicked me out after the funeral, separating me from the only family who mattered—my thirteen-year-old sister. At least she’d come back into my life when she was old enough now to have a choice. Vanessa, on the other hand, had moved on.
I’d never been good enough for her, ever. Yet like a dog wanting a bone, I’d followed my basic instinct. Instead of going to my seat at my table, I walked to her side, where she was eating cake.
She put her fork down and stared at me. She swallowed then said, “Stone.”
Her eyes were puffy and red, and tears streaked her face. I knelt beside her and said, “You looked upset.”
She wiped her eyes and said, “I was on the phone.”
I took the empty seat beside her and ignored how my adrenaline grew faster near her. “Asshole you’re marrying giving you trouble?”
Her entire face reddened, like she was embarrassed.
She covered her lips. “I shouldn’t…”
Fuck. Tears were in her eyes. Reaching out to take her hand, I swallowed. “Shouldn’t what? Vanessa, you know you can trust me.”
She glanced around the room then pivoted toward me, where our knees brushed. “Look, half of staying away was to never burden you with my life.”
Yet she’d mov
ed on. I never had, not really. Every other woman I’d kissed tasted wrong. Vanessa’s nearness drove me fucking insane. I brushed the top of her leg as I said, “You make life worth living. Every fight, every dollar I earn is to show you that I’m worthy of you.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I hate liars.”
“I remember.” She arched her back. I noticed her glorious breasts with pink tips I’d once feasted on. “You… were all I wanted when you didn’t have a dime.”
“Turns out if I’d gotten a lawyer back then and sued my stepmother for my inheritance, then I’d have asked you to come away with me. I never trusted Lana and always thought she was queen of lies.”
I reached under her leg and remembered how sensitive her skin was to my touch, but she didn’t pull away. I knew I had no right, but not touching her was impossible. I needed Vanessa like I needed air, but she only said, “It’s good you didn’t stay in town and see her every day. Besides, you couldn’t have paid the hospital bill.”
“Wait.” I stopped teasing her and sat straight. “Were you sick?”
She reached up and brushed my cheek, which I knew was already slightly scratchy even though I’d shaved this morning. “I’m okay now. Better than okay.”
That didn’t answer my question, though. I licked my lips and stared at her red cherry-flavored mouth as I asked, “Are you marrying your doctor or something?”
She turned away from me and slid her leg away. “No. Nothing like that.”
I folded my hands on the table and whispered so only she heard me, “So leave the loser and come with me now.”
She patted my hand. “I have commitments.”
I kissed her fingers. “The only commitment we have is to honor our hearts.”
